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Exam Question

"It is essential for a TV programme to simultaneously target both mass and specialised audiences"

Explore this statement with reference to Les Revenants


Exam Question

Les Revenants targets casual watchers and a cult audience through it's use of polysemic readings in relation to Stuart Hall's Reception Theory. However it can be argued that due to the many audience responses that Les Revenants may evoke, there are not many preferred readings which is subversive in terms of Les Revenants because the producer doesn't seem to have one specific ideology. This is why it is essential for media products to target mass audiences and specialised audiences because if one audience doesn't respond to the media product in a specific way others will. For example, Les Revenants was given a large sum of money to promote the French alps within the media but actually creates many oppositional readings to the producer's ideologies due to the nature of the show.

It is essential for both types of audiences to be targeted by media products because it allows different audiences to come up with different readings based on their prior knowledge or their own ideologies. An example of this is the non-diegetic sound in the shot that uses the 180 Degree rule  as a contrast between Camille's mum and Camille's feelings within the scene. The soundtrack may attract fans of the Glaswegian band 'Mogwai' which means that they may have a negotiated reading of the scene itself due to them being able to recognise the sound but feeling uneasy about Camille's sudden reappearance. This unease is also reinforced by the binary opposition of the mise-en-scene of lowkey lighting where Camille's mum is standing and the highkey lighting where Camille is standing. This may create a oppositional response by an audience as at this point in the episode, the audience is likely to be confused about the zombie sub-genre convention of coming back from the dead due to it being done in a subversive way.

Another reason it is essential for both types of audiences to be targeted within a media product is to get more people to watch it. This is evident with the intertextual reference to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film which conforms to the stereotypical paradigmatic features of a horror film. This scene may appeal to an audience of horror fans due to the intertextual link to a horror film but may also appeal to a wider audience of families in general due to the mise-en-scene of the sofa in front of the TV. This may create a negotiated reading due to the audience being confused about the genre that is being established by this pilot episode but may also recognise the familiar sight of a sofa in front of a TV which is common in most family living rooms. The use of a high angle mid-shot for this scene may also create an oppositional reading due to the connotations of power that a high angle shot gives the audience viewing the product.

Overall, because Les Revenants seems to lack one specific producer ideology, it has many polysemic readings which are essential for a media product to appeal to a wide range of audiences. In relation to Stuart Hall's reception theory, many different audiences may react to different scenes in this pilot episode in different ways which creates many different audience responses due to the polysemic readings that can be identified within certain scenes. The lack of evident producer ideologies are what allows both cult and casual audiences to watch the show and enjoy it and due to the use of many different camera angles combined with mise-en-scene, it could create readings which may be negotiated online in on places like Reddit which could allow users to combine their own ideologies about the show to form their own identities which relates to David gauntlet's theories of identity which is essential for a producer to create a product that appeals to a specific audience. however in the case of Les Revenants, the producer has allowed the audience to create the ideology of the show which leaves no evident preferred reading for this show wich makes it subversive.

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